Listen to radios? Watch TV? Not for the class of 2016!

Remember when suitcases had to be carried instead of rolled? Or when an airline ticket was a booklet of pages separated by carbon paper? Maybe you remember when Lou Gehrig held the Major League record for consecutive baseball games played.
This year's college freshmen don't.

They never lived in a world where Kurt Cobain was alive or an NFL team played its home games in Los Angeles. The Class of 2016 has no need for radios, watches television everywhere except on actual TV sets and is addicted to "electronic narcotics."

I have a skewed view of age - my parents are older, and I was raised around older adults more than kids my age - and I'm not one of those that freak out that "OMG I'm Old" mentality. We all know it bugs me when people make age a factor.

But OMG! This article freaked me out. It's just so weird to see all of the changes in my [short] lifetime... or just the last 18 years!

And I have no idea about some of the "youth" references, which isn't really surprising... I don't really try to keep up (though ask me what the latest greatest change at a disney park is and I can tell you more than you want to know!)

I know what you mean, Toni. My mom was older, and my grandparents were nearly 70 when I was born, which adds up to a pretty wide gap. I also like a lot of anachronistic popular culture, including silent movies, and history in general interests me. To balance that out, now online I have friends who are anywhere from high school on up. There are many downsides to the Internet, but one thing it does is negate age: anyone can find common ground with anyone else if a shared interest is involved.

(Really, silent movies can be gorgeous. Garbo's films were mesmerizing. The camera practically courted her face...some of the most potent songs from the musical Sunset Boulevard could be about her.)

But it's strange to think that even Kurt Cobain is far in the past. I remember when I was behind the times for not knowing him. Now, I'm apparently cutting edge!

I haven't seen The Artist yet, Dee. I know it's supposed to be wonderful.

Silent movies became such a sophisticated art form toward the end. They actually regressed for a few years once sound came in, because the dialogue couldn't possibly be as glamorous or extravagant as images alone could be. The new sound microphones marooned the actors because at first they had to stay put where their voices could be picked up. Moviemakers had to develop a whole new idiom. If you see movies made in 1930 or so, they're mostly filmed plays, with static groups of people around a dinner table or in a drawing room. Also, the producers imported a lot of theater actors to Hollywood because they needed people who could talk. At first, many of these actors used the exaggerated behavior and vocal production of the stage. It didn't take long for everyone to find his/her footing, and then the Golden Age of movies began. Fred and Ginger! Clark Gable! Cary Grant! Sigh. But those late silents were a vanished world that contained many treasures.

I know, I know...history geek. But the Class of 2016 doesn't know what it's missing.

Olympia, I wasn't going to watch because I was upset that it won Best Picture....I wanted The Help to win. Just on the spur of the moment when I couldn't get the film I wanted to rent at the Red Box, I saw the Artist....after 5 minutes...I was hooked. I think you will really enjoy it. After watching, I can see why it won Best Picture.